Tournament Combat Rules

These are the basic combat rules for the DICED tournaments held in Drache. The following are a combination of IC and OOC rules governing the tournament.

You may submit only two characters per person and only one character per bracket, per tournament. Past tournament participants are certainly welcomed.

Due to the nature of dice, everyone has an equal shot at winning. All you need to do to participate is to submit a character's name, race, weapon type, and general availability to schedule bouts, to the sign up thread for the current tournament. Please don't submit joke characters or the organizers may deny them - it takes away from the drama.

For the purposes of combat, all magic will be subtracted from the arena, leaving the fighters to only rely on their strength, speed and skill, save for during the mages' duels. In the event of a mage tournament, certain schools of magic will be limited or outright forbidden, such as necromancy or other summoning schools of magic, unless otherwise specified.

Categories

• Armed: fighting with weapons to unconsciousness or death (7 hits)

• Mounted: fighting with lances until thrown out of the saddle (choice to surrender or keep fighting on foot from here)

• Magecraft: fighting with magical skill in a wizards' duel (7 hits or submission) - More details to follow at a later date.

Stand-Up Rules

Both fighters step out on the arena as they're announced and wait for the announcer's order to fight. At this point, both sides roll 1d20 for initiative. The higher roll goes first.

Combat Turns

1. Attacker describes attack and rolls 1d20.
2. Defender rolls 1d20 and describes a hit or a miss.
3. The roles of attacker and defender then switch. Etc.

Hits

An attacker who rolls higher than the defender scores a hit and records it as a point. 7 hits are enough to drop an opponent into unconsciousness or death and claim victory. Attacker's natural 20 scores 2 points instead of 1, for an aggravated wound. Defender's natural 20 scores 1 point against attacker. Defender then attacks normally. Same numbers mean re-roll.

Mounted Rules

Both fighters ride out on the arena as they're announced and wait for the announcer's order to fight.

1. No initiative is rolled. Both fighters charge each other and roll 1d20, then turn around and repeat.

Hits

A higher 1d20 scores a hit on the opponent. A fighter who has been hit 5 times is automatically unseated from the saddle and brought 1 hit away from losing. The unsaddled fighter can then choose to submit or to keep fighting on foot, at which point it's considered sporting to accept the challenge.

Any natural 20 unseats the enemy from the saddle and brings him 1 hit from losing.

If rolls are the same, re-roll.

Special Rules

Fighters get access to three combat styles, that they may switch only TWICE per fight:

• Normal: no modifiers
• Offensive: +3 to attack rolls and -3 to defense rolls
• Defensive: -3 to attack rolls and +3 to defense rolls

To use the special rules, both fighters must agree to use them before combat starts. Fighters may begin in any of the three combat styles.

Switching styles is instant and doesn't require special effort. However, the fighter MUST declare his intention to switch styles BEFORE rolling his attack. Similarly, the defender must switch BEFORE rolling for defense.

Remember: fighters are limited to TWO (2) style shifts per match.

Tactics

The tournament is based on chance but players can make some tactical choices to affect their odds.

Standard Tactic: Augmented Rolls

Once per match, each fighter has a choice of making either a single augmented attack or augmented defense. Deciding which to use and how to time it is up to the fighter.

• Augmented attack: Roll d20 for a single attack twice and use the higher number. This move can be declared at any time on the fighter's attack turn.
• Augmented defense: Roll d20 for a single defense twice and use the higher number. This move can be declared at any time on the fighter's defense turn.

Remember: only a single augmented roll can be used by each fighter per match.

Optional Tactic: Combat Styles

This rule is optional because it complicates the game but gives players more choice. Twice per match, a fighter can switch their combat style between aggressive, defensive or neutral.

• Aggressive Style: Fighters concentrate on strong offense, gaining +3 to every attack roll. However they become worse at defending, getting -3 on all defense rolls.
• Defensive Style: Fighters concentrate on blocking and parrying, gaining +3 to every defense roll. However their offense suffers, incurring a -3 on all attack rolls
• Neutral Style: Standard balanced fighting style without any bonuses or penalties.

Players may start the match in any style they wish. They may switch their style at any time during the round, before their next roll.

Only two style changes per match are allowed. Furthermore, a fighter can only change styles by a single "step." In other words, if you want to go from Aggressive to Defensive, you must first switch to Neutral, then to Defensive and vice-versa.

For Example, a fighter might go Aggressive->Neutral->Defensive or Aggressive->Neutral->Aggressive or Neutral->Defensive->Neutral, etc.